[Seoul=NewsDesk] Seven SK Hynix single-stock leverage ETFs, listed on May 27, have surged 27 to 28 percent in three days, sweeping the top spots in the overall ETF returns. The trading volume of these products is nearing 28 trillion won, adding intense heat to the market.

According to the Korea Exchange and KOSCOM CHECK on May 31, seven out of the top eight rising domestic listed ETFs between May 27 and 29 were SK Hynix single-stock leverage products, excluding 'TIGER 200IT Leverage.' 'RISE SK Hynix Single-Stock Leverage' ranked first in returns with 28.27%, followed by 'ACE,' '1Q,' 'KODEX,' 'KIWOOM,' 'TIGER,' and 'SOL' products showing increases in the 26 to 27 percent range. As SK Hynix's stock price rose 13.69% during the same period, leverage products with a 2x tracking structure achieved more than double the returns.

The trading volume also skyrocketed. The combined trading volume of 16 single-stock leverage and inverse products reached 27.871 trillion won over three days, pouring out a record-breaking amount of over 9 trillion won traded per day. In particular, 'KODEX SK Hynix Single-Stock Leverage' ranked first among all ETFs with a trading volume of 10.9258 trillion won. As of May 29, the market capitalization of these products was tallied at 5.3312 trillion won, and the total net assets at 5.0266 trillion won.

There are also observations that short-term trading by retail investors has increased volatility. Retail investors net purchased 9.2 trillion won during this period, but simultaneously sold 5.1 trillion won, accounting for 55.9% of the purchase amount. They resold more than half of their purchase amounts in a short period. A large number of investors also flocked to the pre-trading education required for leverage product trading. According to the Korea Financial Investment Association, the number of applicants for the training, which was around 100,000 before the listing, surged along with the strength of semiconductor stocks, increasing to about 330,000 as of May 28, with about 305,000 of them completing the course.

Market volatility also expanded due to the skewed supply and demand. The KOSPI 200 Volatility Index (VKOSPI) closed at 74.26 on May 29, soaring to 75.27 during intraday trading. Lee Jae-won, a researcher at Yuanta Securities, analyzed, "Volatility expanded as supply and demand became skewed toward single-stock leverage."

Competition among asset management companies is also fierce. While the trading volumes between Samsung Asset Management's 'KODEX' and Mirae Asset Management's 'TIGER', which have held dominant positions in the existing leverage ETF market, are similar, 'TIGER SK Hynix Single-Stock Leverage' (1.3443 trillion won) outperformed 'KODEX' in retail net purchases.

The industry emphasizes that while short-term trading is predominant due to the nature of leverage ETFs, investors should pay close attention to the fact that these are high-risk products where returns can decline even if the underlying asset's stock price moves sideways.